Georgia home foreclosures increased 18% last month despite a national drop in foreclosures.

Georgia is working through a foreclosure backlog.

Nationwide, July home foreclosures were down 7% from the previous month.

But Georgia's numbers were up, helping the state post the nation's third-highest foreclosure activity in July.

There were about 11,000 Georgia properties with foreclosure filings during the month.

Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac says, paperwork problems caused an artificial slowdown that's now picking up.

"We have been creating in many areas a backlog of foreclosures," Blomquist says. "And in some areas, and Georgia is one of those, we're starting to see the backlog break-though and those delayed foreclosures start to hit the foreclosure process."

State laws also make it easier for banks to foreclose on borrowers.

"The foreclosure trend right now is really fractured depending on what area you're living in and how the foreclosure laws work in that area or that state," Blomquist says. "And Georgia is one area -- and it's not the only one -- where we are seeing the foreclosure numbers start to bounce back."

Georgia's July numbers, however, were down from July last year by 9%.

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